Quote of the Day

"I hope that one day you will have the experience of doing something you do not understand for someone you love."

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Yours to Keep

Written by Shannon Stacey

Goodreads Synopsis: Sean Kowalski no sooner leaves the army than he's recruited by Emma Shaw to be her fake fiance. Emma needs to produce a husband-to-be for her grandmother's upcoming visit, and, though Sean doesn't like the deception, he could use the landscaping job Emma's offering while he decides what to do with his civilian life. And, despite his attraction to Emma, there's no chance he'll fall for a woman with deep roots in a town he's not planning to call home.
Emma's not interested in a real relationship either; not with a man whose idea of home is wherever he drops his duffel bag. No matter how amazing his "pretend" kisses are...

My Confession: Are you ready? This was my first ebook purchase. Yup, you read that correctly. I bought this book on my Nook. And as far as I can tell, this book only exists in an electronic format. Now, I've never been quiet about my disdain for the ebook technology; I'm hopelessly old-fashioned when it comes to books. I love holding them in my hands -- I love lining them up on my bookshelves. But, in the spirit of my then-upcoming publishing program, my parents bought me a Nook as a graduation present. And I couldn't just let it sit there collecting dust, right? It's not exactly a cheap piece of equipment. Yours to Keep was a perfect purchase; I'm going to be honest -- it's not a cover I'd want to be caught with on the subway. But the plot seemed cutesy and light enough for a rainy-day read.

Hardly Harlequin: And while this was, most definitely, a slightly watered-down romance novel, I have to admit that I really enjoyed it. While the plot really did revolve around sexual tension and will-they-or-won't-they questions, there were some genuinely funny and sweet moments. Like when Sean leaves Post-It notes for Emma on their bathroom mirror. Or when they're both up to their elbows in mulch while working at Emma's landscaping business. There was a lot of build up and character development throughout, and while I could tell where it was all going to end up, I was so satisfied when it finally got there. I was pretty invested in the characters and their relationship. And every time I started to get bored with the romantic song-and-dance, something new was introduced to keep the story from getting stagnant. Not bad for a fluffy read.

Recommendation: If you have an eReader, go for it. This book is relatively cheap (under $5), and it's worth the Abe Lincoln if you're looking for something mindless, sweet, and with a happy (and sappy) ending. If you don't have an eReader, you won't hear me advocating you to go out and buy one. While I've warmed up a little to my Nook, I can't imagine that technology ever becoming the primary way I read books. I'm too tactile a person, and swiping my finger across a screen doesn't come close to simulating turning a real page, not matter what the commercials promise. But this was a worthwhile ebook purchase. Have at it!

Rating: 3.5/5

published by Carina Press (June 6, 2011)

Quote of the Day

"When I was five, I learned to read. Books were a miracle to me - white pages, black ink, and new worlds and different friends in each one. To this day, I relish the feeling of cracking a binding for the first time, the anticipation of where I'll go and whom I'll meet inside."

Good in Bed

Meeting Jennifer Weiner

Bet you thought my authorial escapades ended with Meg Cabot, huh?

No no no no no.

While in New York, I fully intended to capitalize on every opportunity I had to meet famous people (did I mention I saw Captain America on the street? WOW). When I heard Jennifer Weiner was going to be at Barnes & Noble, I just had to go. She's one of my favorite authors. You probably know her best as the author of her breakout hit novel, Good in Bed, or as the writer behind the Cameron Diaz movie In Her Shoes. What I love best about Jennifer is that she pulls no punches -- her heroines are always smart, sassy, and sophisticated, and they're never ever  a size 2. I couldn't help but thank her for writing about women who look like myself, women I can relate to, who know how to laugh at themselves and still get the guy (sometimes--always by their own choice) in the end, regardless of whether society believes them conventionally "pretty" or not. She turns the romantic comedy on its head and isn't afraid to explore the true complexities that exist in real human relationships.

Jennifer herself is everything she writes about. She's extremely personable, funny, and laid-back. She has a big, contagious smile, and her dry wit (which is best showcased on her Twitter, especially when she live-tweets The Bachelor  and Bachelorette) makes her feel more like your best friend than a New York Times-Bestselling author. A Philly girl at heart (like me!), she told of her escapades in LA, where she co-produced the new ABC Family series State of Georgia. She's such an incredible success story, and one of my inspirations as a writer. Her voice is so identifiable -- and that's such an important thing for a writer. I can only hope that she too, one day, will read what I write.

Okay, so maybe I didn't embarass myself with extreme word-vomit the way I did with Meg Cabot. But I was every bit as starstruck. And as I gushed, Jennifer looked up at me with an expression that read, Oh you poor thing. Why are you making such a fuss?

Which is why she's awesome.

Her new book, Then Came You, is available now! Go get it, and then check back here soon for my review!

Quote of the Day

"Some things don't last forever, but some things do. Like a good song, or a good book, or a good memory you can take out and unfold in your darkest times, pressing down the corners and peering in close, hoping you still recognize the person you see there."

This Lullaby

Impossible

Written by Nancy Werlin

Goodreads Synopsis: Lucy has nine months to break an ancient curse in order to save both herself and her unborn daughter.
Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that the women of her family have been cursed through the generations, forced to attempt three seemingly impossible tasks or fall into madness upon their child's birth. But Lucy is the first girl who won't be alone as she tackles the list. She has her fiercely protective foster parents and her childhood friend Zach beside her. Do they have enough love and strength to overcome an age-old evil?

My Confession: This is another example of a book I picked up because the cover intrigued me. But the plot synopsis intrigued me even more--an entire novel based around a song? An old Simon and Garfunkel song, no less. Scarborough Fair's lyrics, when listened to closely, actually do tell the tale of three seemingly impossible tasks--tasks that don't seem feasible for a human to complete. Using this song as the cornerstone of this story was an extremely original and fascinating idea, one that ends up working really well. Listen to the song below and read over the lyrics--the "tasks" are italicized.

Lyrics:
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
(On the side of a hill in the deep forest green)
Parsely, sage, rosemary & thyme
(Tracing a sparrow on snow-crested ground)
Without no seams nor needlework
(Blankets and bedclothes a child of the mountains)
Then she'll be a true love of mine
(Sleeps unaware of the clarion call)
Tell her to find me an acre of land
(On the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves)
Parsely, sage, rosemary, & thyme
(Washed is the ground with so many tears)
Between the salt water and the sea strand
(A soldier cleans and polishes a gun)
Then she'll be a true love of mine
Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather
(War bellows, blazing in scarlet battalions)
Parsely, sage, rosemary & thyme
(Generals order their soldiers to kill)
And to gather it all in a bunch of heather
(And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten)
Then she'll be a true love of mine
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine


Recommendation: This, very quickly, became one of my favorite books. It's just so interesting. And suspenseful. There's the realm of reality, where Lucy and Zach are normal teenagers stumbling through their growing feelings for each other, and then there's the fantastical element, where Lucy is raped by a demon who is hell-bent on cursing every woman in her family. Once pregnant, Lucy has nine months to solve the "riddle" in the Scarborough Fair song, or else risk falling into madness like her mother and grandmother before her. There's a real quick pacing to the story, and the way these tasks unravel, and the way Lucy attempts to solve them, is truly imaginative and remarkable. Regardless of the mystical elements, everything feels very real. You can't help but root for Lucy while also worrying that perhaps those tasks really are impossible. But the lesson Werlin weaves throughout about love, and strength in numbers, makes this a must-read.


Rating: 4/5


384 pages, published by Penguin (Sept. 18, 2008)

Quote of the Day

"Maybe who we are isn't so much about what we do, but rather what we're capable of when we least expect it."

My Sister's Keeper

Wither

Written by Lauren DeStefano

Goodreads Synopsis: What if you knew exactly when you would die? 
Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb--males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.
When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape--to find her twin brother and go home.
But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding and anecdote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

My Confession: I loved this story for perhaps one main reason: its humanity. Dystopian stories oftentimes focus so strongly on the elements of darkness mixed with fantasy that they forget to mold characters that are still human. Just because people live in a post-apocalyptic world doesn't mean they're robots; in fact, it should be strictly the opposite. What's so chilling and eerie about Wither is that because the characters are crafted so well (they could be my own friends, from their personalities to their actions), you feel that this predicted world could be our future. It was downright bizarre to read about the twenty-first century as the "past world," and even though we're never told exactly when this story takes place, the technological and chemical advances that our society makes today creates a scarily possible prediction. It's the scientific obsession with curing all human ailments and the obsessive quest for perfection that manifests a genetic disorder, cursing the "perfect" first generation with terminally damaged children. Hunger Games meets 1984. And it's a startlingly awesome combination.

Sister Wives: No, not the TLC show. The element of forced polygamous marriages proved an interesting and pivotal plot point. I just loved how well-formed these characters were. Rhine's sister wives are anything but predictable, and the bond the three form as the story goes on defies the easy plot twist of love triangles and unrelenting jealousy. The husband, Linden, is extremely multi-faceted, and I enjoyed reading how his character developed. The way this story pulled away his layers leaves the reader with a character we want to hate, but somehow can't. The supporting cast, from Rhine's "makeup team" to the charming servant Gabriel, mirror the human predicament of complacency. No matter where you go, no matter who you meet, there will always be people who will never see a situation for as bad as it truly is. On the flip side, there will also always be people who refuse to give up fighting for something better. And I just love how this book puts both ideals into action and allows the true humanity of life (no matter the century) to shine through.

Recommendation: Wither is the first in a trilogy, but if I didn't already know it was a part of a series, the ending wouldn't have clued me in. I'm glad that the author didn't end this book on a supermassive cliffhanger just for the sake of doing so. Most writers, when they're setting up for a series, purposely end a book prematurely or at a really pivotal moment to ensure that readers will come back for the second book. Wither doesn't feel the need to do that. Yes, there's more to the story. Yes, most of my questions were answered, and yes, I'd be pretty satisfied if it all ended on that last page. But DeStefano left plenty of wiggle room in this story. She mastered the art of solving some problems while creating others. And that leaves the door open just enough. Series or no series, this stands on its own merit while trusting that Rhine's narrative is more than enough to bring readers back. And it is.

Rating: 4.5/5

358 pages, published by Simon & Schuster (March 22, 2011)

Quote of the Day

"Needless to say, the fact that he actually spoke to me at all practically caused me to pass out. And then the fact that he was actually saying something that sounded like it might be a prelude to asking me out--well, I nearly threw up. I mean it. I felt really sick, but in a good way." 

The Princess Diaries

Meeting Meg Cabot

Lauren, me (in the middle), and Hannah with Meg Cabot !

Can you say BEST DAY EVER? I've been a fan of Meg Cabot since I was, like, 10. No joke. I grew up on The Princess Diaries and then proceeded to spend the entirety of my adolescence reading every book she's ever written. I swear, they kept me sane. They also turned me into a writer. I credit Meg with helping me become the writer I am today. Ever since reading her books, I've been inspired to write my own. Her style helped me hone my own. It was truly beyond an honor to meet her. Our conversation went something like this:

Me (fumbling with my book as I struggle to contain my excitement): Hi!
Meg (glancing down at the book I've basically thrown at her): Hello! You must be (looks down at yellow post-it affixed to the cover of said book) Andrea!
Me (choking on my saliva): That's me!
Meg (signing book with a flourish): Thanks so much for coming out!
Me (deciding on word vomit rather than star-struck silence): Oh my gosh it's such an honor to meet you I've been reading your books forever and someday I hope to be a writer too and it's all because of you I hope you get a chance to read what I write someday because I don't know if I mentioned it but I became a writer because I read your books and I just loved them I think you're awesome

[I pause for a breath]

Meg (with a poise that only comes from encountering crazies like me all the time): That's wonderful! Thank you so much! I hope to someday read something you write!
Me (finally stunned into awed silence): Thank you so much!

Yeah, something like that. She really is awesome, though. And I swear, I'm a completely normal person. I was just SO EXCITED. Ask my friends (check out their awesome blogs here and here). I've known those two girls less than 6 weeks, and they tolerate me better than most people I've known my whole life. Totally made friends for life.

And Meg? One of the highlights of my time here in New York. I'm serious about getting published someday, and I'm completely honest about her being the reason I hope to do so. She's a rockstar. And I hope, one day, she really will read something I write.

Quote of the Day

"There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you'll never understand what it's saying."

Just Listen

Quote of the Day

"So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, every day. You and me...every day."

The Notebook

Quote of the Day

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Thirteen Reasons Why

Written by Jay Asher

Synopsis: You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret...is to press play.
Clay Jensen doesn't want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead. Her secrets should be buried with her.
Then Hannah's voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes--and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death.
All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah's recorded words throughout his small town...
...and what he discovers changes his life forever.

My Confession: I assumed this book was going to be heavy as soon as I picked it up. The back cover does a pretty good job summarizing that no matter what else you learn from the almost-300-page novel, a girl killed herself. That's a plot point that cannot be undone. No matter how attached you become to her character, no matter how sympathetic you feel toward her situation, she's still dead. Nothing changes that.

I didn't foresee this as a problem. Okay, so the girl's dead. No big, right? That's the whole point of a story--it's not real. Curiosity made me pick this up, and even though the subject surpassed morbid, I felt like I could keep a healthy barrier between myself and the story that was about to unfold before me.

Wrong.

Numerous times I felt myself biting back moments of pure rage. Moments where, like the main character Clay--who's forced to listen to the tapes even though he cared greatly about Hannah--I wanted to stuff my fist in my mouth and scream against the barrier. The "thirteen reasons" Hannah purposefully overdoses on pills never feels justified, but I sure as hell felt her pain. And I almost understood why she did it. Almost.

Talk it out: There's a lot to be learned from a book like this. Nowhere is teenage life glorified. Parties are the smelly, sweaty, uncomfortable, claustrophobic spaces we all remember from adolescence but choose to remember as the "glory days." The bubbly, pretty, popular girls are represented as the fake, condescending, image-obsessed people they are. Hannah takes the mystique and sheen off the pretty high school picture painted by the ignorant, those who choose to believe everything they see and hear at face value. In the end, rumors killed Hannah Baker. And while I still walk away from this desperately wanting her to choose differently, her suicide was the only way to make this story pack the powerful punch it did. I dare someone to not feel something after reading this. No teenager could, or should, be the same after reading this. Maybe, in real life, people will be able to identify the warning signs sooner than those around Hannah were able to. Maybe this book can save a few lives, if only by allowing people to hear Hannah's story.

Recommendation: Have I ever thought seriously about suicide? No. Have I ever felt that no one around me gave a shit about whether I lived or died? Yes. But this book shows how a no to the first question can turn to a yes. I was never truly in danger of that happening to me, which is perhaps why a small barrier remains between myself and the heart of this story. I cannot comprehend that suicide is the right answer, ever. Nothing in life can ever be that bad. And even though we, as readers, learn Hannah's motives, and sympathize with the events that led her to such a final act, my hope is that more readers than not find Hannah's actions terrible. An act that they themselves could never foresee turning to.

I was bullied. I know how alone you can feel. Like you're the only person in a room full of crowded people who know each other, but can't--and won't--spare you a second glance. Use this book to keep an eye out for people on the fringe, people who seem okay, but your gut tells you something's wrong. If anything, read this book because it's real. And terrifying. And sad. Read it because it can teach you something. Read it because the next time you see someone with their head hanging low, you have the chance to save their life. All Hannah needed was someone to believe in. She finds it in Clay, but only after she's convinced herself that dying is her only option. Be someone's Clay.

Listen to Hannah's thirteen tapes here.

If you, or anyone you know is thinking or talking about suicide, go here. There's help out there. Don't let what happened to Hannah happen to you or someone you love.

Rating: 4.5/5

288 pages, published by Razorbill (Oct. 18, 2007)

Quote of the Day

"I think of how life takes unexpected twists and turns, sometimes through sheer happenstance, sometimes through calculated decisions. In the end, it can all be called fate, but to me, it is more a matter of faith."

Love the One You're With